Twickenham's 'Big Match' between Harlequins and Saracens has star quality on and off the field

This has been a year to forget for English rugby, one scarred by grisly
on-field failures and off-field turmoil, but 2011 will, at least, end on a
historic high when Harlequins confront Saracens at Twickenham on Tuesday.

Face in the crowd: the interim England coach, Stuart Lancaster, will be at Twickenham on Tuesday to watch Harlequins take on SaracensPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

More than 80,000 supporters - a world-record crowd for a regular season club match - will descend on headquarters for a game which pits the Premiership’s elite sides against each other in a fixture which, in its intensity and sense of grandeur, has the potential to rival a Test.

This is the fourth time Harlequins have hosted a game at Twickenham and while the attendant pop stars lend some glitz to the occasion, it is the rugby which promises to be of star quality:

Quins are unbeaten domestically this season and are seemingly incapable of participating in a boring game while Saracens, the champions, are second and one of the few sides who appear capable of matching them, in substance if not in style.

“It’s been the perfect storm,” said the Harlequins chief executive, Dave Ellis. “The last three ‘Big Matches’ have steadily established this Christmas match at Twickenham in the calendar and now this year, by good planning and some good fortune, absolutely everything is coming together.

“Unlike last Christmas we haven’t had bad weather in the run-up, but nobody could have predicted with any certainty that this match would feature the league leaders against the second-placed team.

"We also took a few soundings some time ago as to the likelihood of a Boxing Day transport strike and took the decision early on to move it from Boxing Day, something which has also paid off for us.

“The basis of the match remains absolutely the same as when Quins started it up three years ago. We want all the family there enjoying a great day out. The vast majority of the tickets are at £10 and £5 for concessions although there are slightly more expensive seats if you want them.

“Getting the crowd in and a Christmas party started is paramount and that’s why we have established the tradition of hiring the X Factor winner as part of our match entertainment.

“What we have always wanted is for the kids want to come along and if having the X Factor winner on at half-time sways that decision, that’s what we’ll do. The formula has been absolutely right from the start and you tamper with that at your peril.”

Despite the huge crowd, Quins will not make much more money than from a regular 15,000 sell-out at the Stoop.

Policing and stewarding costs – which grow in proportion to the crowd – hiring the entertainment and then splitting the surplus on an agreed percentage with the Rugby Football Union mean that Quins needed a crowd in excess of 60,000 just to break even.

As for the ‘Big Match’ itself, both sides are in form and have been flying the English flag in the Heineken Cup, with Quins’ magnificent win in Toulouse last week still the talk of Europe. Saracens, meanwhile, did a typically no-nonsense job down at another European fortress, Ospreys.

The interim England coach, Stuart Lancaster, and assistant Graham Rowntree will be watching closely in the Twickenham committee box while Andy Farrell will be at the coalface helping in his capacity as Saracens’ assistant coach, duties he will continue to perform until Saracens’ Heineken Cup tie at Treviso on Jan 22, after which he will switch to England duties.

There will be England interest in most positions, not least at full-back, where there will be the opportunity to compare and contrast Mike Brown and Alex Goode, while at centre Jordan Turner Hall, who returns from a cheek injury, and Owen Farrell both seem to be closing in on places in the England EPS squad which will be announced on Jan 11.

That quartet will not be the only players looking to put their hands up – the ‘Big Match’ is also a massive and timely opportunity for those with England ambitions.